


She-Ra: Master of the Universe

by orphan_account



Category: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, Expanded Universe, For Want of a Nail, Gen, Genderbending, Swords & Sorcery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:34:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25125505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: What if Adora found the Power Sword instead?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

When Adora woke up that morning, she was sure of her place in the universe. Become force captain to liberate Etheria from the Princesses in Lord Horak’s name. When Shadow Weaver gave her the badge, Adora thought all her dreams came true. 

When Catra goaded Adora into stealing that skiff and driving into the Whispering Woods, everything changed. 

The vine clotheslined Adora right off the skiff and she fell. The underbrush broke her fall. She came to and laid her eyes on the sword wrapped in thorns.

“Whoa,” she said. The sword looked like a sword. Solid steel gray all around. Blade sharp and heavy. Nothing ornate about it except for the hilt which resembled a beetle’s mouth. Adora reached for it. 

Visions flooded her mind of people and places she’s never known. Another planet. A castle in the distance. Battles long won and forgotten. She blacked out.

“Adora, Adora,” Catra said as Adora woke up. No sign of the sword. The cadets made their way back to the Fright Zone but Adora couldn’t forget about the sword. 

That night, Adora wasn’t sure of anything anymore. After assuring Catra that she’ll return, Adora made her way back into the woods.

/-/

**Meanwhile in Brightmoon**

Glimmer brooded about being grounded. Bow tries to cheer her up. He hopped right to her hanging bed and showed her the tracker. 

“I'm just saying, if you wanna prove yourself, it's gonna take more than running recklessly into any old battle. Luckily, I've got just the thing. Check this out. I detected a piece of First Ones tech in the Whispering Woods. A pretty powerful one, too, by the size of these readings. If you find this one and bring it back, your dad is bound to be impressed,” Bow said.

/-/

Adora found the sword again in the same spot. At the same time, Bow and Glimmer entered the clearing. They locked eyes and the three made a break for the sword. 

Bow and Glimmer pounced on Adora as she reached for the sword. Her fingers just brushed the hilt. 

Then everything went black. 

"What?" Adora said as she scooted back. Stone and darkness surrounded her. 

"It seems the sword chose you." Adora looked around for the speaker. "How... unexpected." 

Adora's eyes landed on the largest man she has ever seen. He looked like a mountain of muscle. His blond hair reaching down to his shoulders. 

"Tell me, child, where do you hail from?"

"Etheria." She said.

The man's face furrowed. "Why's the sword there?"

"What are you talking about? You're not making sense," Adora said. 

The man can only shrug. "I'm afraid I'm just as confused as you are. However, If the sword chose you then a great evil must be vanquished from Etheria. I hope you find the answer.”

/-/

Adora woke up with her hands tied behind her back. Great, she’s a prisoner. 

Adora had a lot to think about. On top of trying to escape from these rebel scum, the things the man said to her weighed on her mind. _Is he talking about the Alliance? Are they the great evil?_ Furthermore, what Bow said contradicts what the Horde taught her about the Princesses. Nothing makes sense anymore. 

The trio stopped at a village burned to the ground. Glimmer said the Horde did this and dragged Adora to a downed bot to prove it.

Adora would have kept ruminating on her shattered worldview, but then a giant bug attacked. 

Bow and Glimmer were pinned against a tree. Adora could just take the sword and get back to the Fright Zone. They'll be fine.

"I'm too young to die." Bow curled up against the tree.

"Shut up Bow." Glimmer hurled feeble magical blasts at the bug.

Totally fine.

Adora held the sword and looked back at the two of them. If she goes back she might never find out the truth about the sword, the Horde, the great evil or anything really. She can just be a force captain.

Adora made her choice.

“Hey, bug brain,” Adora fumbled with the sword. “Oh, where's a blinding flash of light when you need one?” 

The bug charged at her and swung its pincers down. 

Adora held aloft the magic sword to block the strike. More visions flooded her mind. The same man from before and his dying declaration: “By my name, a hero will be born.”

Somehow the words entered her mind as if Adora knew them all her life."By the power of Grayskull," Adora lifted the sword up. Power surged through her. Like nothing she's ever known.

Bow and Glimmer saw the Horde soldier engulfed in a bolt of lighting. When they could see, the Horde soldier was gone. In her place was a giant hulk of a man. 

"I HAVE THE POWER," he roared. 


	2. Chapter 2

“Glimmer?” Bow asked.

“Yeah, I see him, Bow.” Glimmer couldn't believe what she and Bow saw. A huge blond man wearing only boots, a fur loincloth, and a harness stared down the giant bug. 

The bug, slightly deterred from the lightning, resumed its rampage. It lifted its mighty pincers for another clubbing blow. 

The man stood calm and grabbed both pincers and tossed the bug on its side. 

The resistance and tossing shocked the bug so much that it scurried away from the man the first chance it got. 

Glimmer and Bow looked at each other. _What now?_

“Hold it right there,” Glimmer readied her palms with magic. Bow readied an arrow. 

“You’re welcome,” the man said. He touched his throat like he was shocked at the sound he made. 

“Enough tricks, where did the girl go? Who are you?” Glimmer just wanted some first one's tech but this mission is getting out of hand. 

The man looked closely at his hands. “What did you do to me?” He screamed.

“What do you mean what did 'I' do to you?” Glimmer retorted.

“I was a girl this morning.” Adora threw her hands up. “You used your magic. Now change me back.” 

Bow got between Glimmer and Adora. “Okay everyone, let’s calm down.” He turned towards Adora. “We saw the girl lift the sword up and yelled something. One lightning bolt later and there you are.”

Adora looked at the sword again and lifted it above her head. She took a deep breath, “By the power of Greyskull.” Nothing happened. I hope I’m not stuck like this.

Glimmer looked at the man before her. “So what are you going to do now?” Adora raised an eyebrow. “You have the sword and you look like you can bench press a mountain. We can’t keep you.”

“I can’t go back like this and with the things I’ve seen. Going with guys is my best way to know why this is happening to me. To find the truth.”

"Still, I wish I could change back," Adora said.

_"Say let the power return."_ said no one in particular. 

"Did you hear that?" Adora looked at her captors. Both of them nodded their heads no. Adora looked around. No else seems to be around. _Now I'm hearing things? This better work._ She took up the sword once again and said, "Let the power return!"

Boom!

Adora was back in her old body again. “Huh?” She checked herself over. Everything seems fine.

Bow looked up. Not a dark cloud in the sky. “How did you do that?” Bow looked impressed.

Glimmer poofed to Adora and grabbed the sword.“Nevermind how she did it. There should be a village a few miles from here. They'll be able to give us a ride back to Bight Moon. We've wasted too much time already.” Glimmer said.

Adora agreed that sticking with the two of them-their names were Bow and Glimmer- would help her know more about her powers and perhaps her visions. So she tagged along.

/-/

  
Shadow Weaver slammed her hands onto the scrying bowl. The bowl slightly stirred but only gave Shadow Weaver’s reflection. Catra leaned back against the wall.

“For the last time, where is Adora?” Shadow Weaver said. 

Catra darted her eyes away from Shadow Weaver. “What your birdbath didn’t tell you?” 

“Enough of your insolence!” Shadow Weaver locked Catra in place using dark magic. She got in close and turned Catra’s face towards her. “Now tell me where she is.”

Catra stood ramrod straight. Don’t show weakness. “She’s probably headed to Thaymor. She wouldn’t abandon her duty.”

“For your sake, she’d better be.” Shadow Weaver said. 

/-/

Adora ditched her jacket and put on Glimmer’s cape. Bow placed a flower in her hair to complete the effect. She looked ridiculous but no one bothered her, freeing her to take in the village and the festivities.

Festival. The word and concept were new to Adora. Sure Shadow Weaver would allow rest and relaxation periods whenever the squad did well, but a whole day? For everyone? The food. The songs. The dancing. Everything Adora didn’t know she missed until she experienced it today. 

“How is your life this sad?” Bow asked. Honestly, Adora had no idea. 

Bow mentioned something else-birthdays. Adora knew she was born on a certain day on a certain year but she never really thought about it. Days are all the same, aren’t they? 

Once again her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden and loud disturbance. 

/-/

_This has to be a mistake_ , Adora thought. The Horde wouldn’t attack a civilian village. She ran in front of the first tank she saw.

“Stop,” Adora said. The tank stopped right at the tip of her nose. The hatch opened and out came a creature with four legs and pop-out antenna eyes, wearing a force captain’s badge on his uniform.

Mantenna squinted his eyes just to make sure. He addressed Adora in a vibrating voice, like layers of sound playing on top of each other. “Adora?” He jumped off the tank and met Adora face to face. “Catra was right. You did show up.”

“Catra?” Adora just remembered Catra was supposed to cover for her. _Oh no._ “What did you do to her?” 

“Nothing. Got sent to the front for the first time since you ditched. Catra wouldn’t say where you were. Shadow Weaver made an example out of her. Now help me clear this village out and maybe I’ll put in a good word for Shadow Weaver.”

_I left Catra behind._ Adora felt like a terrible friend but that is not the priority now. “Catra aside, why are you doing this? These people aren’t a threat. Leave and take me back to the Fright Zone.”

_That sounded like Rebel's talk. No one would question Lord Hordak’s orders._ Mantenna looked at Adora even more closely now. “Sure Adora, I’ll take you back.” His eyes popped out. Adora ducked just before the beams shot out of the force captain’s eyes. “As a prisoner. Do not worry, I’ll only stun you so Shadow Weaver won’t have my head.”

Right, laser vision. Adora thought. As good as she was, she can’t outrun laser beams! Thankfully, Glimmer and Bow rode in on horseback to make the save. 

/-/

Glimmer teleported her and Adora to a remote spot. Glimmer crumpled into a heap. She apologized for being an idiot and handed Adora back the sword to her hands. It felt right. 

A horde bot approached the pair. 

Adora lifted the sword and said the words, once more with feeling, “By the power of Grayskull.”

BOOM!

“I HAVE THE POWER!”

The horde bot split in two. 

/-/

“It's been an honor serving beside you, Horsey,” Bow said for his famous last words. Mantenna and a slew of tanks surrounded the archer preparing to fire. 

Something crashed landed into the ground, kicking up a small dust cloud. The smoke cleared and He-man stood in defiance. 

“Leave,” He ordered. 

Mantenna let out a vibrant laugh. “Die rebels,” He motioned his troops. “Fire!” The whole circle let out a volley of laser fire. 

He-man remained calm and, with precision and accuracy, deflected each and every one of the blasts right back into the turrets. The whole circle of tanks went up in smoke. 

“Bow are you all righ-.” He-man deflected a wayward eyebeam with his sword. Mantenna fell back, in shock and fear. 

“Tell Hordak,” He-man directed at the felled captain. “That his reign of tyranny is coming to an end. Etheria will not stand for it. I will not stand for it.” 

Mantenna backed up slowly, turned around, and scurried away in the smoke. The rest of the soldiers followed suit. 

Thaymoor was saved.

/-/

“Let the power return,” He-man said behind a rock. 

BOOM!

Adora stepped out, worse for wear but okay. It’s official. Adora’s a rebel now. With no way back to the Fright Zone and all she’s ever known, she took Glimmer’s hand and stood up. Onward to Brightmoon and a future she could have never have dreamed of.

/-/

  
“What happened?” Shadow Weaver applied more dark energy to Mantenna. Lord Hordak wouldn’t be pleased that a whole company was wiped out on such an easy mission. 

“Adora was there like you said,” Mantenna said between grunts of pain. “I think she defected. One of the princesses teleported her out. Next thing I know this giant man with a sword appeared and wiped out my forces.”

That’s interesting. “Tell me more about this man.” In spite of Mantenna's cooperation, Shadow Weaver applied more pressure. Failure will not be tolerated. 


End file.
